


The Burden of Strength

by Ryukin



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: First Kiss, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 09:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17785025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryukin/pseuds/Ryukin
Summary: Riku is strong, Riku is capable, but he is breaking under the weight of being so close to Sora's light, close but never close enough.





	The Burden of Strength

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick moment in timeless eternity.

Riku sat barefoot in the dirt and wished it was sand. He wished for the warmth of home, all sun and sea and Sora. He longed for their races across the dunes, lightfooted over driftwood and sea stars, the tide ebbing and flowing between their strides. He wanted to feel free. 

 

He wanted to run. 

 

He tucked his knees to his chest and stared out at the sky surrounding him. The air around the Mysterious Tower was never still - magic thrummed in the very dust motes. Clouds swirled in shades of twilight and dawn, galaxies sparkling between them. Sometimes Riku felt like he was spinning looking out at the mysterious sky.

 

He held out a hand and summoned. His keyblade, solid and heavy and new, answered his call immediately. Braveheart. A Master key. He wasn't feeling like a master. He dismissed it and called again and again as his vision swam. 

 

“Riku?”

 

His keyblade, heavy with metal and magic and obligation, disappeared with a whiff of sulphur and gold. 

 

He didn't jump when his heart did, reacting as it was wont under Sora's touch. He summoned his blade again, and let it go. Sora's fingers clung to his shoulder as he moved to sit cross legged beside him. He left his hand on Riku's arm and softly said his name again. 

 

“What's up?” Riku sighed softly. 

 

“Just wanted to ask you the same.” Riku knew his smile just from his voice. “You know -” he started, dragging Riku's eyes to him as he fell silent. Sora let his hand fall and leaned over his lap. He stared into the constellations swirling dizzy around the Tower and let his hands dangle over Eternity. “It's okay.”

 

Riku blinked. “What is?”

 

Another smile crossed Sora's face, an unfamiliar, wry twist of his lips. “Everything,” he answered. The word hung between them, bittersweet to Riku's ears. Sora blinked rapidly. He shook his head and turned back to Riku with his normal wide smile. “It's all okay. Everything - because we're together again. All that time, all those worlds. Riku -”

 

“Yeah,” Riku said with an empty voice. He stood, toes inches from the edge. Sora stood next to him, a little further back. He brushed his hand over the hem of Riku's shirt and gave it a gentle tug. Riku stepped back.

 

“Then what's wrong?” Sora asked. Riku turned away from the soft look on his face. “You can talk to me. You're my friend.”

 

Riku dropped his eyes, unable to meet Sora's. He felt his face twitch in a grimace, uncontrollable, as if it were someone else's. Sora reached for his cheek, his hand and heart and eyes open and accepting.

 

Riku snapped. “I don't want to be your friend.” His voice was gravel tearing up his throat. His vision blurred with lingering tears and Sora paused, fingers hovering by his face. “Sora,” he croaked. 

 

He had never been witness to heartbreak, but the pain in Sora's eyes couldn't be anything but. He wanted to take it back - he felt magic in his fingertips, waiting to cast Aero in a protective cocoon. To Cure the effect of which he was the cause. 

 

He turned away, inadvertently into Sora's hand. He tore himself away and watched a single fat tear roll down Sora's face, shining in the starlight. 

 

He may have never _ seen _ a heart break before, but he felt the twist of his own tear him apart. He took two steps back before turning, head down, and running. 

 

There was nowhere to go on the floating island so he ran up the Tower stairs, ignoring Sora's call behind him. He jerked to a halt with one foot hovering at the top. Sora, the remnants of a Stop spell sparking between his fingers, planted his keyblade in the ancient stone of the stairs and popped a reversal around him. 

 

They were face to face. Riku wanted to turn away, from the pain on Sora's face and the hope in his eyes. The spell held him still. 

 

“Riku, what are you saying?” The question hung between them, hypothetical as the Stop held Riku's mouth shut. “You don't mean that.” His blade disappeared; Sora's fingers twitched with nothing to hold on to. He brushed a strand of silver hair behind Riku's ear. 

 

Riku ground his teeth, clenching an empty fist around the ghost of his own keyblade. He didn't call for its protection, though. Sora's hand slipped down his arm, raising goosebumps. 

 

“Please talk to me.”

 

Riku shook off the Stop. He stood face to determined face with Sora as he watched him from the top stair. 

 

“I can't -” fell from his lips under the gaze of the blue blue eyes that tormented his thoughts. 

 

“You can -”

 

“I _can't_ _just_ be friends with you, Sora! It's tearing me apart! _You're_ tearing me apart,” he fought back a sob. “Everything I've done, everything I've become, Sora - I can't - I'm not strong enough.”

 

“For what?” Sora's head was cocked to the side. “Riku?” he pried. 

 

Riku looked away. The clouds circling the island were making him dizzy. “To be the friend you want. To stand back and just -” He shook his head. 

 

He could practically hear the gears in Sora's head working out a reply. Riku huffed, trapped. 

 

“Riku,” Sora reached for him but he shrunk back. He saw Sora nod slowly and keep his distance. “Riku, everything you've done has helped so many people - you've saved worlds! You've saved me - even when I couldn't find you, you were there, helping me, always!

 

“You're the strongest person I know.”

 

Riku looked away. The cosmos was spinning around them. He whispered, “I'm not.”

 

Sora was quiet for a moment. Riku shut his eyes as Sora turned his face forward with gentle fingers. “You don't always have to be strong, Riku. I have you.”

 

Sora's hand curled around Riku's face and he moved to push him away. He froze, fingers on Sora's wrist, as he felt Sora's breath over his lips. 

 

On tiptoes, Sora kissed the corner of Riku's mouth. His lips, chapped from Agrabah sand and Atlantica salt, skidded over Riku's own, sent an electric shock shivering down his spine. He couldn't breathe. 

 

Sora was losing his ability as well, if the stuttering laugh bouncing between their lips gave a clue. He curled his hands tighter around Riku's face and he took a step closer. He held him as he captured his lips again. 

 

Riku signed and let Sora keep control. They were eye to eye with Sora on the higher step and Riku allowed himself to fall into his hands when they braced against his shoulders. His head swam; he felt weightless. He grabbed Sora's waist so he wouldn't float away. 

 

Sora gasped and Riku's hands flew back. Sora grabbed them and put them back, fingers twining between Riku's. 

 

“It's okay Riku. I have you.”

 

Riku kissed Sora's temple. “You've had me forever, Sora.” The stars swirled around them and Riku felt still and warm and strong. “You'll have me forever.”


End file.
